Erskine Friends

Welcome to our page where students from the Uig School on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, and Erskine Academy in South China, Maine, USA will share and learn about each other and the climates and environments where we live.


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Erskine in Autumn


October 18, 2009: Welcome to our Erskine Friends Wiki. It is autumn in China, Maine! This picture was taken in front of our school. The trees are maple trees. Their leaves change color and fall from the trees every year. What do you think causes this change? Many children (and grownups) make big piles of leaves to jump in and most people rake the leaves to remove them from their yards before winter. Some people use them for mulch or to add to compost piles. We will watch our trees change throughout the school year and you can share our weather and climate changes with us. What is the Isle of Lewis like in October?

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The First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving:
The third Thursday in November is Thanksgiving in the USA. It is a holiday to celebrate the first Thanksgiving of the English settlers who landed on Plymouth Rock (Cape Cod, Massachusetts). They were called the Pilgrims. They left England to escape religious persecution and they arrived in 1620. What do you think their first winter would have been like? What did they eat and grow? Who would have helped them learn to adapt to the new climate they found here?
Our celebrations include a vacation from school. Most families have a special meal with foods from the harvest. We eat turkey, potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, corn, rolls, apple pie, and each family has other foods that are traditional for them. It is a time when we remember to be thankful for all the bounty we enjoy and to gather with family and friends